Study Bava Batra folio 98A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מבושם אני מוכר לך״ – חייב להעמיד לו עד העצרת. ו״ישן״ – משל אשתקד, ו״מיושן״ – משל שלש שנים.
that is spiced, which is preserved and of lasting quality, that I am selling to you, then he bears financial responsibility to provide him with wine that will keep until the festival of Shavuot. And if the seller said: I am selling you old wine, he is responsible to provide wine from the previous year. And if he said: I am selling you aged wine, he is responsible to provide wine that is from 3 years earlier.
גמ׳ אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא: לא שנו אלא בקנקנים דלוקח, אבל בקנקנים דמוכר – אמר ליה: הא חמרך והא קנקנך.
Talmud: R' Yosei, son of R' Ḥanina, says: When they taught that the seller does not bear responsibility if the wine sours, that was only if it soured while in the jugs of the buyer; but if it soured in the jugs of the seller, then the buyer could say to him: This is your wine and this is your jug; take it and reimburse me. Since it soured while still in the original jugs, it was clearly flawed from the outset.
וכי קנקנין דמוכר מאי הוי? לימא ליה: לא איבעי לך לשהויי! לא צריכא, דאמר ליה למקפה.
The Talmud asks: But even if the wine soured while in the jugs of the seller, what of it? Let the seller say to the buyer: You should not have left it for so long after purchasing it; I should not be responsible just because you chose to do so. The Talmud answers: No, this ruling is necessary in a case where the buyer had said to him that he was purchasing the wine for cooking, in which case it is understood that he needs it to maintain its quality over a longer period of time, as only a small amount is used each time.